Emigrants Statue

The Emigrants, with Helmsdale in the
Background

Standing in Couper Park above the south side of the River Helmsdale
and overlooking the village of Helmsdale
and its harbour is the Emigrants Statue. The statue can be accessed by
footpaths climbing from either of Helmsdale's bridges, or from the car park
beside the Wee Cafe, next to the A9 immediately to the south of the more modern
bridge.

The Emigrants Statue was unveiled by the Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP,
then First Minister of Scotland, on 23 July 2007. It was commissioned by Dennis
MacLeod, who was born and brought up in Helmsdale before making his fortune in gold
mining in South Africa.

The inscription on the monument, in
Gaelic and English, reads:
"The Emigrants commemorates the people of the Highlands
and Islands of Scotland who, in the face of great adversity, sought freedom,
hope and justice beyond these shores. They and their descendants went forth and
explored continents, built great countries and cities and gave their enterprise
and culture to the world. This is their legacy. Their voices will echo forever
thro the empty straths and glens of their homeland."

The statue is the work of sculptor Gerald Laing. It depicts four
figures The kilted man is looking ahead into an unknown future, while beside
him a boy is looking up to him for guidance or reassurance. The woman, wrapped
in a shawl, is holding a baby and is looking back towards the home they have
been forced to leave. In September 2008 a matching statue, known as the Selkirk
Settlers Monument, was unveiled in Winnipeg, Canada.

The Emigrants Statue is describes as "a non-political national and
international project". It provides a focus for the commemoration of the huge
numbers of people evicted from their ancestral homes during the
Highland Clearances, in
an area where the impact of the
clearances on the society
and the landscape was both profound and irreversible. Many of those displaced
by the clearances found
their way to new homes elsewhere in Scotland or, very often, abroad, where they
made new lives.

The Winnipeg connection stems from one small group of these
displaced Highlanders. In the summer of 1813, over 100 people who had been
evicted from their homes in this part of
Sutherland some months
earlier set sail for Canada. They spent their first winter enduring the bitter
cold of Hudson Bay, before eventually settling in the Red River district of
what is now Manitoba. There they helped establish what has since grown to
become the city of Winnipeg.

The arrival of Highland emigrants like this these was a huge gain
for the growing young nations of the United States, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand, and the presence of the Scottish diaspora around the world is a
tremendous benefit to Scotland today. But the loss of so many Scots at the time
is something it is difficult not to regret, and the impact on the individuals
involved must have been devastating.

The Emigrants Statue succeeds in evoking the very mixed feelings
produced by this complex story, and it is fitting is has been given such a fine
and appropriate location.